Exotica, technological security, a new business environment and a change of the view on a state organization.
After such a long time, it was very pleasant to attend in person probably the only international conference which took place in these COVID-19 times.
Every year, Cybertech Global offers a large number of professional presentations from the segment of the latest technologies and solutions in the field of cyber security across various areas of industry.
The significance of the event was also supported during the first day by the visit of the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamdan bin Rashid al-Maktoum.The biggest success this year was the discussion between former MOSSAD chief Tamir Pardo and former CIA chief David Petraeus.
Summary of the professional program
- If you want to protect everything, you won’t protect anything.
- Security priorities need to be set based on knowledge and data.
- Be better secured than the “guy next door”.
In addition to the professional program offered by the Cybertech Global conference, I was also very interested in the opportunity to get to know the business environment. To better understand the region, I also participated in several B2B a B2G meetings with leading Arab companies:
Yum! Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. The transformation of their food model was a natural step forward, as the company lost food revenues from eating directly in the restaurants due to the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Etisalat, the largest telecom operator in the Middle East. It currently operates in 15 countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
VIn this day and age, it was also very interesting to meet Dr Osama El Hassan, who is the vice-president of the Emirates Health Informatics Society and the head of the eHealth section at the Dubai Health Authority. The aim of their project in Dubai is to ensure accessibility, efficiency and integration of the healthcare system, protection of public health and improvement of the quality of life in the Emirates.
A few observations
- Unlike our region, the IT market is extremely competitive, there is significantly more supply than demand in the labor market due to the proximity of India, Egypt, Jordan and Africa.
- I perceived strong ambitions to reduce dependence on IT n the form of paying for software in measurable units – e.g. percentage of orders or in the case of different CRMs depending on the number of records in the DB.
- The workforce is comparable to the costs in our region when it comes to net income. However, the price of our work is significantly higher due to taxes and levies.
- In the long run, in addition to cultural differences, the emphasis on quality, our know-how and processes can distinguish us.
Finally, I definitely recommend regularly checking the SARIO agency ‘s website and other events they organize for entrepreneurs. Excellent organization of the whole process, without unnecessary bureaucracy and very professional arrangement, which I did not expect from a state agency.
And one more interesting tip for optimizing the tax burden, which was advised by another businessman from Slovakia who was also present at the event.
And was it worth it?
5 PCR tests, stress from a potential quarantine lasting for 10 days in a hotel room in case of a possible positive result? Yes, it was worth it ?
